My head was starting to float now too. Pressure was building behind my eyes and my thoughts started becoming slower.
The blackness was closing in.
If this was it . . . if this was how it all ended . . .
Then I’d go out with her in my arms. Or at least against me.
Not a bad way to die really.
CHAPTER 45
Light.
Bright, bright light.
It felt like it was slicing through my eyeballs. I groaned loudly. Then tried to blink. My mouth was so dry, as if someone had shoved cotton wool in it, followed by a handful of sand. My limbs weighed a ton and I couldn’t lift them at all, no matter how hard I tried. But wait . . . I was lying on something soft.
A bed?Yes!
But hadn’t I been in a cupboard?
I tried to sit up. Raise my arms and grab on to something.
‘Slow down,’ said a voice that I knew was not mine.
Whose voice was it?
I turned my head to find Cam sitting next to me. He was just a fuzzy shape for a while, but the longer I looked, the more his body and face came into focus. His face was puffy and pale, and he had a line down one of his cheeks, an indentation, as if he’d been sleeping on something for far too long.
‘You okay?’ He reached across and grabbed my hand.
‘I think so. I mean, I’m alive, right?’ I looked down at my legs and poked one. ‘We are alive, right?’
He smiled at me. ‘We’re alive, Lizzy.’
A woman in scrubs appeared and wrapped a blood pressure cuff around my arm. ‘Don’t worry, dear, you are very much alive – just disorientated, but that will wear off soon, and a little dehydrated.’
I looked at my other arm. There was a drip sticking out of my hand and a bag of saline was pouring into me.
The arm cuff beeped and then released me. ‘On the low side, but that’s to be expected. Your electrolytes are still off, but much better than ten minutes ago.’
I turned and looked at the room around me for the first time, and noticed just how many people were in it. Men in black suits. At least six of them. We were still in my villa, but it was a hub of activity. ‘What’s going on?’ I said.
‘I have no idea actually,’ Cam said, trying to stand up.
‘Easy,’ the nurse said.
One of the men walked over to Cam and extended his hand. ‘Agent McKinley,FBI.’
‘FB. . .what?’ I asked, shocked. I’d never met anyone from theFBIbefore. It was the stuff ofTVshows and films. Not actual reality.
‘You guys have had quite an ordeal. Don’t worry, I’ll explain everything soon. I’ll give you some time to get your bearings first.’
Cam took the agent’s hand and seemed to shake it in slow motion. ‘Hi, Cam—’
McKinley smiled. ‘We know exactly who you are.’ And then he just walked away.
Cam sat down next to me again and we looked at each other.
